It's 12:45 on my sixth day in Kyiv, and at long last my accreditation has been sorted out. I'm in the media tent for the first time, as I have had no access to it until now, and therefore no PC, since arriving here on Thursday. I'm feeling immensely relieved. Bureaucracy here, in many different areas of life, is as bad as I feared, and worse than I expected.

Anyway, Chig is having a good time, despite that. Everything else here is great. Our apartment is spitting distance from the Palats Sportu - in fact I don't know anyone staying nearer to the Eurovision venue than we are. It's superb, and only costing me about 23 pounds per night. That includes daily cleaning and towel changes. Unfortunately, despite it being niceley decorated and very clean, we have so far killed four cockroaches in the bathroom - a fifth one ran across my bed one morning, while I was in the bed, and it disappeared under the pillow. Rather worrying, but we'll gloss over it. They are baby cockroaches compared to the monsters in Gran Canaria, which have refused to die, even when I've jumped on them, so it's all relative, innit?

I've just left Javine's second (and final, until she wins) press conference. Both UK rehearsals (yesterday and today) have gone well. Her voice is faultless every time, and the dance routine is tight. We like a lot. Of course, it doesn't mean she's going to come anywhere decent, but at least she'll give a good show. The only negative that people keep mentioning is that the song becomes repetitive towards the end and, as a friend just said, runs out of steam half way through. The danger is that Javine will be eclipsed (in many senses of the word) by Chiara who follows her, in position three. She is just awesome. Much bigger than 1998, but still awesome. Her song captures you from the start, is very easy on the ear, and very hummable. Big danger of her winning, but I'm still tipping Hungary, and for Malta to be a dead cert for top 4. Worth an each way bet too, as Malta were still 14-1 yesterday, which is absurdly generous.

More later today. Lots to do.


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